Drive system for aircraft landing gear

Abstract

A method of engaging a drive system with a rotating wheel of an aircraft landing gear is disclosed. A motor is operated to apply torque to a pinion so the pinion rotates and moved from a neutral position to a contact position in which it contacts a rotating driven gear at an initial contact time, the rotating driven gear being mounted to a rotating wheel of an aircraft landing gear. After the initial contact time the pinion is moved further to a meshing position where the pinion meshes with the driven gear. A centre-to-centre distance between the pinion and the driven gear reduces as the pinion moves to the contact position and to the meshing position. The driven gear contacts the pinion in a series of impacts as the pinion moves from the contact position to the meshing position, each impact induces a spike in electromotive force or angular velocity at the motor.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to a method of engaging a drive system with a rotating wheel of an aircraft landing gear. The present invention also relates to a drive system for rotating one or more wheels of an aircraft landing gear for the purposes of ground taxiing (forwards or reverse) and / or wheel spin-up prior to landing and / or for applying braking torque to the rotating wheel(s).BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Aircraft are required to ground taxi between locations on airfields. An example is taxiing between a runway and the location (e.g. terminal gate) at which the aircraft's passengers are to board or disembark. Typically, such taxiing is achieved by using the thrust from the aircraft's engines to propel the aircraft forwards so that the landing gear wheels are caused to rotate. Since ground taxi speeds are necessarily relatively low, the engines must be run at a very low power. This means that there is a relatively high fuel consumption as a res...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent text discusses the use of a roller gear or a roller chain in some situations to improve the performance of gear arrangements. A roller gear is more tolerant of deformation and misalignment between the pinion and driven gear, while a roller chain is less expensive to implement. The technical effects of using a roller gear or roller chain include improved efficiency, reduced noise, and improved durability of gear arrangements.

Problems solved by technology

This means that there is a relatively high fuel consumption as a result of the poor propulsion efficiency at this low power.

This leads to an increased level of both atmospheric and noise pollution locally around airports.

Moreover, even when the engines are run at low power it is generally necessary to apply the wheel brakes to limit ground taxi speeds, leading to a high degree of brake wear.

This process is laborious and costly.

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